The Lizzie Borden Podcast: Recent Episodes
Richard Behrens
Dedicated to the life and times of Lizzie Borden of Fall River Massachusetts. Topics include the Borden murders of 1892, Fall River history, the Borden family, Lizzie Borden's life before and after the tragedy, and other notorious women of the Victorian age.
In this episode we are delighted to have PeggyRae Johnson, award winning director and actor, and member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. She has multiple voice-overs to her credit, including recordings for Simon and Schuster Publishers. She will perform a dramatic reading of The Melancholy Scion. This story was first published in The Hatchet: A Journal of Lizzie Borden and Victorian Studies in 2007 and is now a part of The Audible Amnesiac and Other Lizzie Borden Girl Detective Mysteries, published in 2018.
In this episode we interview Dr. Stefani Koorey on her endeavor to raise funds to erect a marker on the grave of Edwin H. Porter, the author of The Borden Tragedy: A History of the Borden Murders, published in 1893. https://gofund.me/c593b4f9
In this episode we interview Bill Pavao, history teacher, author, former curator of the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, and close personal friend of the late Leonard Rebello.This episode is talk about Len Rebello, a remembrance of sorts, an honor for those who knew him. Len passed away on February 13th of this year. His fame in the Lizzie Borden world was tied to his monumental research book Lizzie Borden: Past and Present, a bible of Borden studies. But Len was much more than this.
In this episode we are pleased to interview award winning filmmaker and professor of Media Studies and Screenwriting Ricardo Rebelo. Ric directed the PBS documentary Lizbeth a Victorian Nightmare and grew up in Fall River, MA, one block away from the Lizzie Borden house. He offers us his unique perspective on the case and the people involved in telling the story of the crimes.
In this episode we are delighted to have PeggyRae Johnson, award winning director and actor, and member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. She has multiple voice-overs to her credit, including recordings for Simon and Schuster Publishers. She will perform a dramatic reading of "The Forlorn Maggie." This is the first Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective Mystery written by Richard Behrens, and it was first published in The Hatchet: A Journal of Lizzie Borden and Victorian Studies in 2008.
In this episode we interview Rory Raven, author of Wicked Conduct, about the Sarah Cornell murder in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1832.
In this episode we interview Tom Mauriello, retired US special agent, professor of criminal justice and forensic science at the University of Maryland, and accomplished author. Tom has a unique expertise on crime investigation and offers his own theories and thoughts on the Borden case.
In this episode we interview Karen Roggenkamp, professor of American Literature and Children’s literature at Texas A&M University (Commerce). She is the author of two books, Narrating the News: New Journalism and Literary Genre in Late Nineteenth Century American Newspapers and Fiction, and Sympathy, Madness, and Crime: How Four Nineteenth Century Journalists Made the Newspaper Women’s Business, both published by Kent State University Press. Each book, in part, highlights the Lizzie Borden case through the lens of two renowned journalists: Julian Ralph and Elizabeth Jordan.
In this episode we interview Anna Behrens, author, publisher, speech pathologist, producer, editor, and widow of the late Richard Behrens, the creator of this podcast.
Anna’s company is Nine Muses Books and her most recent publication is the Monadnock Sherlockian Anthology, comprised of essays, poetry, plays and fiction about Sherlock Holmes, another interest she shared with Richard.
In this episode we interview William Spencer, author of two books on the case. His first one, THE CASE AGAINST LIZZIE BORDEN, examines the legal proceedings (inquest, preliminary, grand jury, and trial) on a day by day basis.
Bill’s newest book is titled LIZZIE BORDEN UNCUT A CASE BOOK OF THEORIES. It is the book every Bordenite wished someone would write. It is a critique of all the major books and legal articles on the Borden murders and covers five main areas, the books and essays about the legal aspects, those authors who believe an intruder did it, those authors who rely on conspiracy for their solution, those who believe Lizzie did it, and those who write that Bridget Sullivan was the killer. Only after all of this does Bill examine Motive and Means and gives his take on the crimes. It is an excellent read and highly recommended.
In this episode, we interview Dr. Patricia L. Bryan, co author of Midnight Assassin: a Murder in America’s Heartland, published by the University of Iowa Press. The book details the accusation of murder against Margaret Hossack, who was known at the Lizzie Borden of Iowa because she was accused of killing her husband with an axe. This true crime inspired inspired Susan Glaspell’s play "Trifles."
In this episode, we bring you an interview with Michael Martins, curator of the Fall River Historical Society.
We discuss the recently released, long-awaited book, The Jennings Journals 1892: The Unpublished Notes and Documents from the Files of Lizzie Borden's Defense Attorney, Andrew Jackson Jennings.
Nine Muses Books is proud to present: Episode 13: The Scrooge of Second Street, a Lizzie Borden Girl Detective Christmas Story.
Although Richard uses an authentic 1870s Fall River as a setting for his mysteries, as well as a teenage Lizzie Borden and her real family members as characters, the stories are pure comic invention, quirky fiction wrapped around an intriguing mystery.
Many years before her infamous arrest and trial for the murders of her father and stepmother, Richard's Lizzie Borden pursued a career as a private consulting detective, and her beloved cousin Sarah Borden, served as a chronicler of her adventures.
In this story we meet Homer Thesinger, boy inventor, Lizzie's stingy father Andrew, her jealous and ineffectual sister Emma, and Abby, her dour and stern stepmother.
You have met Lizzie Borden before, but never like this.
The Lizzie Borden podcast presents, The Scrooge of Second Street, performed by Stefani Koorey.
Nine Muses Books is proud to present: Episode 12: The Audible Amnesiac: A Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective Radio mystery.
Although Richard uses an authentic 1880s Fall River as a setting for his mysteries, as well as a teenage Lizzie Borden and her real family members as characters, the stories are pure comic invention, quirky fiction wrapped around an intriguing mystery.
Many years before her infamous arrest and trial for the murders of her father and stepmother, Richard's Lizzie Borden pursued a career as a private consulting detective, and her beloved cousin Sarah Borden, served as a chronicler of her adventures.
In this story we meet Homer Thesinger, boy inventor, Lizzie's stingy father Andrew, her jealous and ineffectual sister Emma, and Abby, her dour and stern stepmother.
You have met Lizzie Borden before, but never like this.
The Lizzie Borden podcast presents, The Audible Amnesiac, performed by Wendy Almeida. Listeners may recognize Wendy Almeida as the voice of the Agitated Elocutionist in Episode Eleven of the Lizzie Borden Podcast.
Nine Muses Books is proud to present: Episode 11: The Agitated Elocutionist: A Lizzie Borden, Girl Detective Radio Play. In this episode we bring you something completely different: an old-fashioned radio play adapted from The Agitated Elocutionist, one of Richard Behrens' Lizzie Borden Girl Detective Mysteries. Although set in an authentic 1870s Fall River, MA, with a teenage Lizzie Borden and her real family members, the rest is pure quirky fiction wrapped around an intriguing mystery. In the world of the girl detective, and many years before her infamous arrest and trial for the murders of her father and stepmother, Lizzie Borden pursued a career as a private consulting detective, and as you are about to hear, in The Agitated Elocutionist, she matches wits with a pompous elocutionist and her devoted man-servant. You have met Lizzie Borden before, but never like this! This radio play is a departure from our usual history-based podcasts, and it is just plain FUN! The quirky characters of Richard Behrens' imagination come to life right from the pages of his delightful and intriguing mysteries. The actors are superb and hilarious, and the sound effects beautifully capture the Victorian-era flavor of the story. The e-book version of The Agitated Elocutionist is available as a free download at Amazon.com
CAST
The talented cast of The Agitated Elocutionist as pictured left to right in group photo above: Aaron Potter-Rychwa as Police Officers Beck, Bence and Oxnard Wendy Almeida as Madame Arbuthnot Christopher Pratt as Banters the Valet Heather Herring as Sarah Borden and the narrator Tara Sabino-Potter as Lizzie Borden Ian Hefele as Arthur Tinge Tyler Strickland as The City Marshal Richard Behrens as Gerard Gumley and writer/director Mason Amadeus, audio engineer Catherine Behrens as Abby Borden (not pictured)
Welcome to a special episode of the Lizzie Borden Podcast. Today we will be talking with the Fall River Historical Society curators Michael Martins and Dennis Binette who will discuss the story behind their phenomenal book Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River, published by the Fall River Historical Society in 2011.
The Fall River Historical Society is located at 451 Rock Street in Fall River, MA. Information about the Society can be found on their Facebook page or on their website lizzieborden.org. They are a public charity organization charged with collecting and archiving historical artifacts and material related to the multi-cultural history and heritage of the City of Fall River. A part of that mission is to preserve and protect the legacy of the Borden Family, Lizzie Borden and the historical impact of the Borden Murders of 1892. Their Lizzie Borden exhibit includes rare photographs, crime scene artIfacts, and personal items that belonged to the Bordens. They also have a research library with a large collection of primary source material on both the Borden tragedy and Fall River history. The Fall River Historical Society should be part of any historically minded tourist’s visit to the City.
Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River is a ground-breaking work and arguably the only professional biography of Lizzie Borden. Michael and Dennis worked on this book for approximately ten years, tracking down material related to Lizzie and the Borden family, cultivating relationships with owners of private collections and descendants of those who knew Lizzie, and piecing together a vast puzzle: a portrait of Lizzie Borden, Fall River’s most notorious resident and historical mystery.
The book is filled with one revelation after another. It opens a window onto Lizzie Borden’s childhood through the diaries and letters of her friends. The details of her 1890 European Tour are revealed through Lizzie’s personal scrapbooks filled with hundreds of postcards and annotations. Because of this book, we can now read her prison letters, and gain profound insight into her private thoughts during the long ordeal of her incarceration and trial. New revelations about Lizzie’s Maplecroft years including light shed on her relationships with actress Nance O’Neil, her sister Emma, and a small but loyal group of servants and friends who maintained their silence about Lizzie for decades. And then there are the new photographs of Lizzie, published in this book for the first time, from the private collections of families that knew her best and had gained her trust. Most of all, Parallel Lives teaches us all we need to know about Fall River society during Lizzie’s lifetime so we can put her tragic life into historical and cultural context. The book has as much material about Fall River’s golden age when Cotton as King as it does about Lizzie Borden, and the entire story is held in a delicate balance where the social fabric of the city helps us understand Lizzie on a deeper level.
Parallel Lives received a starred review from Kirkus Review, one of publishing’s highest honors, and Kirkus declared it one of the best books of that year. It is certainly one of the best books for a hard core Lizzie Borden enthusiast. Here to help us gain some insight into Parallel Lives are the co-authors and curators of the Fall River Historical Society, Michael Martins and Dennis Binette. Guests:
Michael Martins (pictured right) and Dennis A. Binette (pictured left) are the curators of the Fall River Historical Society. Their previous work, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Lizzie A. Borden – The Knowlton Papers 1892-1893, a volume of unpublished letters and documents from the files of Prosecuting Attorney Hosea Morrill Knowlton, was unprecedented, being the first collection of primary source documents ever made available on that case. Both are recognized authorities on the Borden case, and have appeared in numerous televised interviews and documentary films on that subject.
Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager
Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast.
Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina.
Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7. In his spare time he makes music and short films with his friend Tucker. You can find them at http://MasonAndTucker.Bandcamp.com and http://Facebook.com/MasonAndTucker.
Mason runs an independent sound design group in Keene, NH: Amadeus Imaging. They offer reasonable rates for high-quality studio recording of voice and music, commissioned music from professional studio musicians, as well as sound design and effects for theater and radio. Contact them at MWasher@WKNE.com.
In this Episode of The Lizzie Borden Podcast we conclude our Lizzie Borden Primer with Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century. For those listeners who are unfamiliar with the details of Lizzie Borden’s life and the Borden Murders of 1892, this Primer will help orient them and give them important contexts for future episodes.
This part of the Primer covers Lizzie Borden's life at her home Maplecroft after her controversial acquittal. Previous to the publication of Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River by the Fall River Historical Society, little was known about Lizzie's private life in her beloved home on the Hill. She moved into the French Street house with her sister Emma shortly after her murder trial and lived there until her death in 1927. Over the years, urban legends have accumulated about the infamous recluse who led a lonely and besieged existence. Rumors of scandalous affairs and forced confessions to the murders have dominated our narrative of the Maplecroft years, but Parallel Lives recasted Lizzie as a woman leading a very composed life behind her wall of privacy. A Lizzie Borden Primer Part 4 explores that private life, attempting to separate the mythic Lizzie from the very real woman who maintained her dignity in the face of great odds. Guest:
Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and named an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is her first non-fiction book and has been hailed by Kirkus and the New York Times as a perfectly concise and lively historical account of the Borden Murders of 1892.
Visit Sarah’s website for more information.
Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager
Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast.
Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina.
Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7. In his spare time he makes music and short films with his friend Tucker. You can find them at http://MasonAndTucker.Bandcamp.com and http://Facebook.com/MasonAndTucker.
Mason runs an independent sound design group in Keene, NH: Amadeus Imaging. They offer reasonable rates for high-quality studio recording of voice and music, commissioned music from professional studio musicians, as well as sound design and effects for theater and radio. Contact them at MWasher@WKNE.com.
Fall River, MA has been described as "a city built to burn." In this episode Dr. Stefani Koorey takes the listener through the major conflagrations that destroyed large swathes of Fall River throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. This episode also takes the Lizzie Borden Podcast on its first detour away from Lizzie Borden's personal story, however it remains in Lizzie Borden's city of Fall River, which has its own richly textured and fascinating history.
Fall River’s nineteenth century textile boom brought with it a series of fiery disasters. The Big Fire of 1843 left more than one thousand people homeless and destroyed two hundred buildings, as well as more than twenty acres of land. After the Steiger Store Fire of 1916, mill owners pressured the city to replace its horse-drawn brigades with more modern fire engines. The intense heat from the Kerr Mill Thread Fire of 1987 melted hoses as first responders battled the blaze. Author Stefani Koorey chronicles these and other historic infernos of the Spindle City and celebrates the community’s resilience in the face of adversity.
Purchase the book here.
GUEST: Dr. Stefani Koorey holds a PhD in Theatre History and Dramatic Criticism and an MS in Library Science.
She lives in Fall River, and has been featured in the Discovery Channel’s documentary “Lizzie Borden Had an Axe.” and lectures far and wide on the subject Lizzie Borden. Her most recent discoveries of the portraits of Lizzie's father Andrew Borden and his first wife Sarah, as well as the image of Lizzie Borden as a child, has helped to renew interest in this fascinating unsolved mystery.
Dr. Koorey was the indexer and an editor of the award-winning history of Lizzie Borden and Fall River published by the Fall River Historical Society—Parallel Lives: A Social History of Lizzie A. Borden and Her Fall River.
She is also the editor and publisher of The Literary Hatchet, as well as the publisher/editor at PearTree Press, which specializes in Borden titles, true crime, Fall River history, gothic poetry and short stories.
Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager
Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast.
Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7. In his spare time he makes music and short films with his friend Tucker. You can find them at http://MasonAndTucker.Bandcamp.com and http://Facebook.com/MasonAndTucker.
Mason runs an independent sound design group in Keene: Amadeus Imaging. They offer reasonable rates for high-quality studio recording of voice and music, commissioned music from professional studio musicians, as well as sound design and effects for theater and radio. Contact them at MWasher@WKNE.com
In this Episode of The Lizzie Borden Podcast we continue our Lizzie Borden Primer with Sarah Miller, the author of The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century. For those listeners who are unfamiliar with the details of Lizzie Borden’s life and the Borden Murders of 1892, this Primer will help orient them and give them important contexts for future episodes.
This part of the Primer covers the Preliminary Hearing, the Grand Jury Proceedings and the Borden murder trial, which was held before the Superior Court in New Bedford in June 1893 and ended in her acquittal.
The Lizzie Borden Primer series will give the listener a grounding in the historical facts of the Borden Murders of 1892 which have become a part of the American imagination for 124 years, listen to find out why, and form your own informed opinion about her guilt or innocence. Guests: Sarah Miller
Sarah Miller is the author of two historical fiction novels, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, which was called “an accomplished debut” in a starred review from Booklist and was named an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book, and The Lost Crown, about the Romanovs, hailed as “fascinating” in a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and named an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden & The Trial of the Century is her first non-fiction book and has been hailed by Kirkus and the New York Times as a perfectly concise and lively historical account of the Borden Murders of 1892.
Visit Sarah’s website for more information.
Credits: Producer: Nine Muses Books Engineer: Mason Amadeus Writer/Director: Richard Behrens Music: Melora Creager
Richard Behrens is the author of the Lizzie Borden Girl Detective mystery series and the co-founder of Nine Muses Books, and host of The Lizzie Borden Podcast.
Melora Creager is an American cellist, singer-songwriter, performing artist and founder of the cello rock group Rasputina.
Mason Amadeus is an on-air personality for 103.7 KNE-FM and Sunny 97.7. In his spare time he makes music and short films with his friend Tucker. You can find them at http://MasonAndTucker.Bandcamp.com and http://Facebook.com/MasonAndTucker.
Mason runs an independent sound design group in Keene, NH: Amadeus Imaging. They offer reasonable rates for high-quality studio recording of voice and music, commissioned music from professional studio musicians, as well as sound design and effects for theater and radio. Contact them at MWasher@WKNE.com